Dcn Leah Sandwell-Weiss

Dear friends,

Today we honor a priest and educator who few of us have ever heard of:  William Augustus Muhlenberg.

Born at the end of the 18th century, he lived through three-quarters of the 19th, influencing the development of both Christian and public schools. He was also an early leader in the liturgical movement in the Episcopal Church. Finally, he was an early proponent of the Social Gospel, founding a hospital and purchasing over 500 acres on Long Island, St Johnland, to host a rural Christian community for the urban poor.

Somehow Dr Muhlenberg’s life didn’t grab me until I read about the influence he had on someone who used to share this day of observation, Anne Ayres.

She was the first sister and the founder of the first Episcopalian religious order for women, the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion. As she later wrote, in 1845 Dr Muhlenberg “preached a sermon on "Jephtha's vow," with an application glancing at the blessedness of giving one's self undividedly to God's service. The suggestion was covert and guarded.” But for Anne, it “went straight to the heart.” Dr Muhlenberg privately consecrated her to Christian service later that year.

Others soon joined her; the first order for women in the Episcopal Church was officially recognized by the House of Bishops in 1852. It wasn’t what we would now think of as a religious order, however, because of the concern about appearing too much like a Roman Catholic order. There was a tremendous amount of anti-popery sentiment at the time, so they didn’t wear habits and didn’t take lifetime vows, but pledged to serve for three years at a time.

Sister Anne and the other members of the order were primarily nurses to the poor. They later moved to St Johnland to help take care of the people who lived there. Sister Anne both directed nursing and administered the hospital there from 1858–1877. The last Sister of the Holy Communion died in 1940.

As I reflected on both Dr Muhlenberg and Sister Anne’s lives, I thought about how we can impact those around us in so many different ways. Anne heard a call to serve God in an oblique way that struck her directly and changed her life.

Who has impacted your life by their actions or words? Who have you impacted?

—Dcn Leah